In my last post, I mentioned that I would be starting a new position at The Luminary, working under Chef Eli Kirshtein. Well, I have begun! It has been a slow process, and the opening has been delayed by weeks, but it has been one hell of a ride.
We started last week by cooking the full menu for the staff. I went in this past Thursday and prepped up my station for 8 hours. Then, the following day, I came in and plated all of the desserts for our front of house group. We got some feedback from them and Eli, and we made adjustments accordingly.
After that, we had a weekend off. As I said, this process has been slow. I was having a conversation with one of my fellow line cooks about it, and he said, "You know how much it sucks to not work weekends? Well some people have EVERY weekend off!" We both laughed, because we know that neither one of us will know that luxury for many, many years. I guess, in our eyes, we didn't see it as a luxury. We saw it as an inconvenience, and a severely depleted paycheck.
So, yesterday, Garden & Gun magazine and Ralph Lauren Home bought out the restaurant, even though we aren't open yet. We served ~65 people, and it was fun! We started everyone out with gougeres, seafood towers, and beets with bernaise sauce. After everyone was seated, we served a bibb lettuce salad with a tarragon vinaigrette. The entrees were a choice of fish, steak frites, or the vegetarian option which featured some delicious chickpea flour fries (I'm not sure of their real title). I made sure to try a bit of each plate, and they were all wonderful. The dessert course was profiteroles filled with coffee diplomat, served with a hazelnut caramel sauce. SO yummy.
So anyway, after service, we talked to Chef Eli, and he told us that we are still waiting on our liquor license to be finalized. We will hopefully be back in the restaurant on Tuesday to start prepping again, and then we will most likely open later in the week. I cannot wait to work a full-time job again! I am immensely excited to work with this group of folks in the kitchen, but I'm ready for it to start already. I feel like part of me is missing every time I DON'T work a Saturday night shift.
Anyway, I snapped a few pictures during service, and here they are! I was so busy plating dessert that I didn't have time to take any pictures, sorry!
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| Bibb salad with tarragon vinaigrette and summer squash, fennel. |
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| Vegetarian Option! Chickpea flour fries, squash, tomatoes, aioli. |
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| Steak frites. |
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| Fish with tomatoes and slaw. Sooooo good. |
